4th October, 2023
By Auwalu Birnin Kudu
The Adamawa State Government, in partnership with key players in the tourism industry, has finalised plans to convert the Kiri Water Dam, located in Shellang Local Government Area, into a holiday resort park.
Mr. Aloysius Babadoke, the Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, shared this development during an interview in Yola on Wednesday.
He highlighted that this initiative is part of the government’s ongoing efforts to promote the tourism sector, attract visitors, and boost the state’s revenue.
”This will also open another window of opportunity for the state in revenue generation and pave the way for investors considering the potential abounding in tourist sites in the dam.
”Government will continue to maximise and harness the tourism potential in the state for socio-economic development.
”Adamawa is blessed with tourism sites, notably the Modibbo Adama Palace Museum in Yola South and the Sukur World Cultural Heritage Site in Madagali.
”Others include the Three Sisters Rock in Song LGA, Sassa Waterfall and Gumti National Park in Toungo LGA, Elephant House in Guyuk, as well as the confluence of the Rivers Gongola and Benue, among others.
“This is in addition to the rich annual festivals organised across 21 LGAs of the state, which mostly attract tourists from different parts of the world,” the commissioner noted.
The dam, with a capacity of 615 million m³ capacity, was built to provide irrigation for the Savannah Sugar Company (SSC), a large-scale sugar cane plantation and processing company set up as a joint venture between the Nigerian Federal Government and the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), London.
The CDC was the managing agent for the project, and the construction contract was awarded to NECCO, a company largely owned by the government.
The Savannah Sugar Company was acquired by Dangote Industries in 2002.
In 2009, the company owned 32,000 hectares of land near the dam, of which 6,330 were in use, and employed about 5,000 people.
The company was producing about 50,000 metric tonnes of sugar annually, supplying the Nigerian market, which consumes 1.1 million metric tonnes each year.
Over 1,000 hectares of irrigated rice and other crops were being grown using the company’s canals.
NAN